ON INSTINCT

the Siberian tiger hadn’t yet
escaped from a S.F. zoo
killed or mauled anyone when
she sprang out of a cat’s growl
as my own slowly approached
her and her three month old kittens
playing outside my neighbor’s door--
wanted nothing more than to make friends
with its own kind
walked slowly
toward this new mother---
not having been one I didn’t recognize
what was happening what my own mother
treated as a job

teeth gnashing in her eyes
she leapt into my apartment
after her prey cowering beneath a table
huge claws I didn’t need to see
about to dig into my cat’s neck
seconds before
this great king of the forests
the savage years not yet tamed out was
captured ---in seconds what took centuries to evolve
the small friendly stray
he took in last summer purring in his arms
that haven from which she fiercely guarded
her own...

© LINDA LERNER